RCA chief miffed over recent raids on petrol pumps

The district supply officers (DSOs) of Bhilwara and Udaipur raided two petrol pumps owned by Bhilwara district cricket association secretary M Nahar and Udaipur district cricket association secretary Mahendra Sharma on Friday.

It is learnt that both the petrol pump owners are close to Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) president Lalit Modi, who later on alleged that the government was “harassing” the voters of the state cricketing body ahead of the elections which are scheduled for March 1.  

The raids were conducted jointly by the district supply officers of the two cities and weight and measurement department (industries) along with oil companies officers, said sources. Modi claimed that the owners of the petrol pumps received intimidating calls from anonymous phone numbers. “Someone called the owners of the petrol pumps to get in touch with special secretary to the chief minister’s office, Srimat Panday. If the owners of the petrol pumps are getting such calls this can be said that the state government is interfering in the RCA elections,” Modi said while levelling allegations against the government.

Modi who was branded as a BJP man when Vasundhara Raje was the chief minister of the state is finding it hard to cope with problems cropping up against him and his allies. Modi alleged that with few days left for the elections, the state government wanted to intimidate the RCA voters. “The state government is taking help of the various other agencies to scare my allies and help rivals win the elections,” Modi said.  

On the other hand, district supply officer (DSO) of Udaipur, Rajendra Singh Shekhawat told DNA that the raids were routine inspections of the petrol pumps and it has nothing to do with the RCA spat. Shekhawat said, “We have conducted three raids at different petrol pumps as a routine inspection. We checked density, adulteration and account records.” When asked about any action taken against petrol pump owner Sharma, Shekhawat said, “We did not find any major irregularities there. We have not taken any major action against him. There was a slight irregularity and we will question him on that.”  

The district administration of Bhilwara raided “Nahar Brothers”, owned by Nahar. They took stock records and cross-checked measurement and stock density.

The commissioner of industries (weight and measurement) Manohar Kant said that the collector initiates action against irregularities found at petrol pumps. Despite attempts to contact Bhilwara district collector Bhawani Singh Detha several times, he was not available.

The state government is taking help of various agencies to scare my allies and help rivals win the elections.—Lalit Modi, RCA president

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication